Hi,

I am hoping to talk to someone who may have been through a similar situation as
me. It
would be great to chat to women who have been through this and can tell me their
experiences.

My story started in December 2006. I had some abnormal bleding and went and had
a pap
smear. I got high level abnormality as my reslt and on December 22nd I had a
colposcopy,
biopsy and cystoscopy. The surgeon believed I had a stage 1A cancer and
recommended I
have a cone biopsy to excise the tumour.

I had the cone on January 18th this year and when the pathology came back, the
cancer
was re-classified as a 1b1 cancer. Plus, cancerous cells were found on the upper
margin of
the cone. My doctor recommended a radical hysterectomy as the standard
treatment,
which I found horrifying. This completely shattered my dreams of becomming a
mother.

The surgeon said that although it is considered experimental, he would consider
me for a
trachelectomy instead, taking into consideration my age, the size of the tumour
and that
my MRI showed the cancer was localised.

After talking with my partner, the doctor, cancer councillors and much research
on the
internet I decided that I wanted to have a trachelectomy. This was done
abdominally on
February 15th, just over 2 weeks ago. I am feeling better every day and have my
first
check-up appointment on the 13th of March. Hopefully it will go well and I can
return to
my regular life.

Something I really want to know about and hear from others is trachelectomy
success
stories, especially those that have since had children.

Hope you are all well.

Kylie